The New York Times just published its first front-page editorial since 1920 — and it's slamming gun violence in America

For the first time since 1920, The New York Times has published
an op-ed on its front page.

The editorial, titled
"The Gun Epidemic," takes aim at gun control in the US, a
topic that has frequently become front-of-mind, amid a sharp rise
in high-profile mass shootings over the past several years.

In the piece, The Times' editorial board writes: "It is a
moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally
purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal
speed and efficiency."

Critics have often slammed US lawmakers for a number of failings
on the issue — including the lack of consensus on how to limit
access to certain types of weapons.

The article goes on to classify some firearms as "weapons of war,
" and implicates the weapons industry for marketing guns
"as tools of macho vigilantism and even
insurrection."

The editorial board then launches into a strongly worded rebuke
of US politicians, who offer thoughts and prayers for victims of
gun violence, "and then, callously and without fear of
consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of
mass killing."

The Times accused lawmakers of "distracting us with arguments
about the word terrorism," and says that mass shootings
"are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism."

Mourners
visit a makeshift memorial near the Inland Regional Center on
December 4, 2015, in San Bernardino,
California.Justin Sullivan/Getty
Images

Politicians in the US have been taken to task about the lack of
progress toward stricter gun laws. President Barack Obama
notably vented his frustration on the matter after the Umpqua
Community College shooting in October this year, in which eight
students and a teacher were killed.

During a press conference hours after the shooting that day,
Obama said, "This is something we should politicize. It is
relevant to our common life together."

The Times concedes a point often declared by gun-control
opponents — that tougher gun laws won't stop "determined killers"
from acquiring weapons.

But the newspaper then points to other countries — like
Norway, France, and England — that have taken steps toward
limiting access to guns, and slams the US for largely failing to
try.